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Monthly Archives: January 2013

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Allrighty then…. Last week I talked about HDR photos and how I was in the process of coming up with a workflow that portrayed HDR shots in a way that was not overdone as so many are these days.. Well I think we have a system that will work… I also spoke of a photograph that spoke to me and promised that I would share it here with readers of this blog.

So let me lay this out. Recently a young lady that I have a great deal of respect for as a photographer, had the opportunity to snap some newborn shots. I saw this photo and right away went on a wild rant about it. Personally, I felt the power of this image, as it truly spoke to me. In addition, I would like to ask for your help and suggestions cause I feel this image is worthy of national publication. It is that damn good. The photographer is Erin Townsend and she simply kills it every time she steps behind the lens.. You can see more of her work on her Facebook page, and please if any of you know how to get a shot published, please contact either her or myself. Erin’s work is incredible, and it’s about time people know about her and what she can do. So without any further ranting on my part, please allow me to present to you an image that I feel is breathtaking.

HOLDING HONOR

HOLDING HONOR

Please checkout Erin’s work, and give her a like if you are on Facebook. Let her know what you think of this shot. I have.

Last post, we visited the topic of bad editing or over editing. Today I want to discuss taking a series of pictures that maybe did not turn out as expected. The shot and topic today is a bracketed series of photos that were taken with the intent of creating a HDR composition. While setting up, I relied on my light meter to give me the suggested exposure time for a properly exposed initial image. My first mistake or so I thought. The images seemed to be a little dull and underexposed when I viewed them on the LCD. Deciding to keep the shots, I would revisit them after my edits were complete for my client.( Business first..Play later) Having a few minutes, I did in fact revisit these shots, and merged them to HDR. Although underexposed I played with the settings until I had the image adjusted to the point were it started to appeal to my eye. Once satisfied, I re-imported into Lightroom and finished the final touches. Having some thoughts on HDR compositions, I began to do a little research, and found that I could easy make some adjustments to my camera setup to enhance the original bracketed photos. In the future I will from time to time begin to display some of these images with the modified camera settings. As I do so I will share with you the modifications and the process I use to create my HDR Photography.

My final Shot:

HDR LAKESHORE

Also in my next post, and this is purposely being placed here to see just how many are actually reading. Those that do, I know who you are and I thank you for your continued support, But I am going to share an image, taken by a very special young lady, whom I have a growing affection for her style of photography. Long admired for her work ethic and her commitment to photography, I have taken a special interest in an image she recently captured. Although I am no big name in this ever-expanding industry, I personally feel that this image is truly a work of art, and is so deserving of national publication. Now a few will ask, “Mike why would you promote someone who is in competition with you?” My answer to that is real simple. For me this picture taken stuff goes way beyond the money you can potentially earn. Learning techniques, and having a detailed understanding of just how a camera sees light is the key to creating a piece of art, that touches a person. When this is accomplished, it inspires and creates a real understanding of what a pure photographer is all about. I have refered to this as feeling the bang and in may ways that is not a great description of how I feel about incredible photography. I do however take note of inspirational photography, and the image I will be sharing here on WordPress is a photo that I am inspired by. I feel many others will share my enthusiasm once we display it here.

Spread the word

Like this:

Ok yeah the title. Kind of a play on words, but the factors.. Partly sunny day, and on a beach so i figured what the heck.

I followed up yesterday doing some photos for friend and her very pregnant daughter, and while on this shoot I took notice of the contrast in light on the beach. When I finished with my friends, I took a closer look on the beach and before you know it, I was flat on a cold stone riddled sandy beach snapping some shots.

SO far my favorite:

Stoned on a beach

Once again in use, was my trusty and loved 7d. I used the Tamron 18-270 set an F-8 with the shutter at 1/500th of a sec. I also used ISO 400 and a partial metering mode to create the raw image. Using Lightroom for my edit, I sharpened it slightly and brought up the vibrance. I thought of cropping the photo to remove part of pier and water but decided to just leave it as it sort of offset the beach and gives the photo some depth and contrast.

With a January thaw in progress, I took a few minutes yesterday to simply stop at an overlook near my home, and was treated to a rare show. Several immature bald eagles were doing a little fishing as the mature raptors looked on. A great day for pictures indeed, and although my vantage point was almost a mile away from the activity, I was able to catch the following.

If you are a reader of my Humble Blog you will recognize the photo posted here today. The original photo was an HDR shot of a simple winter scene, and although I like the shot,I had felt that it was missing the detail in the HDR that I wanted to achieve. Taking a good hard look at this shot and making the decision to re edit was easy. I simply made adjustments to the detail and saturation settings to achieve these results. I reposted this shot on my face book page and WOW!!!To date this has been my all time active photo as far as likes and comments. Big thanks go out to my followers for taking the time to share and comment on the composition. This is the original shot after editing.

THE ORIGINAL

The 2nd look edit. THOUGHTS

2nd Look edit

Some very light touches can be found when studied closely, but in all, the details and shadows that are present in this edit, made the difference between a nice shot, and what one friend called ” A Spectacular Shot”

Thanks for checking out the post, and if you are on FB please stop by and say hello. I am always looking to connect and network with other photo enthusiasts.You can find my page here. Thanks again.